


switch

by fictionsofthemind



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: ASoIaF, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual!Arya, Everyone is Queer, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gendrya - Freeform, GoT, Jealous Gendry, Lighthearted, M/M, Modern AU, Modern Westeros, bisexual!Gendry, bisexual!Pod, crack but they fall in love, gendry is a bottom, good pals and study buddies gendrya, huge bisexual chaos, i didn't mean for both of them to be horny bitches, momentarily angsty but in the way that a romcom has 1 painful moment, other characters are mentioned but it's not important so i didn't tag them under characters, queer in that every queer person is sexually linked L word style, they did it to themselves, they just turned out that way, this WILL end in smut, this is approaching crack, threesome?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2020-10-20 07:10:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20671346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionsofthemind/pseuds/fictionsofthemind
Summary: uni pals Arya and Gendry are bi as heck and also very into each other.





	1. tops and bottoms

**Author's Note:**

> this is basically crack so i don't have to proofread or apologize
> 
> there will be a couple more chapters to continue this silly story of bisexual chaos

Gendry could hear the bass line of something booming all the way from his doorstep when Arya’s car pulled up to the curb in front of his flat. Pretty bold for 9AM on a Saturday when half the neighborhood is either hungover or asleep, he thought as he slung his bag over his shoulder and made toward the car. When he was halfway she rolled down the window.

“Get in loser, we’re going shopping!” she called to him.

The music was too much once he was in the car, and he reached for the dial so he could hear her. He wasn’t super familiar with the song but the artist kept say “boys,” over and over again. Arya was hardcore jamming.

“I thought we were going to the library?” he questioned her sudden deviation in plans from their weekly study session.

Arya rolled her eyes. “We are. Have you never seen _Mean Girls_?”

“Can’t say I have.”

“Gendry, what the fuck? How have you managed to never see _Mean Girls_? It’s basically a classic.”

“I usually don’t even know what day it is, Arya, let alone keep up with pop culture,” he offered as she handed him a black coffee in a large paper cup. She was already working on her own drink, something pink and fluffy. “What’s that?” He gestured to the concoction.

“I don’t really remember exactly, but it matches my hair so I got it.”

“Good reasoning.”

“You and I are watching _Mean Girls_ later,” Arya decided.

“Anything for my cultural education,” he agreed.

She was dancing in her seat, as much as it were possible. She wore her usual hoodie and leggings - comfortable study clothes - but something about her was glowing a little extra.“Someone woke up on the right side of the bed,” Gendry observed.

Arya gave him a conspiratorial look. “Actually, it was technically the wrong side because it wasn’t my bed at all so I didn’t get much of a choice.”

A small flame lit inside Gendry’s core. He asked a question he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to. “Not your bed?”

“I got lucky last night,” she revealed.

“Ah,” was all he could manage. Gendry thought back to the night before; a party at Anguy’s place. He tried to remember when he last saw her, remember who she was with. She had been with him the first half of the night. And then he saw her chatting with Gilly in the living room. And then they had all played a drinking game in the kitchen. Things got a little hazy after that. Who else had played with them? Anguy, for sure - gods he hoped she hadn’t slept with Anguy. There were some other girls there, too, but he couldn’t remember their names or faces, let alone if they might have gone home with Arya. And then they were joined by Pod and — seven hells. It was Pod, wasn’t it?

Gendry brought himself back to the present, to Arya tapping her fingers rhythmically on the steering wheel. He guessed she must have enjoyed herself last night judging by her general enthusiasm. He tried not to let the thought engulf him.

“So,” he started as nonchalantly as possible, “was it Pod?”

Arya laughed. “How did you know?”

“Saw you with him last night,” he shrugged.

“I’m surprised you saw anything last night with Willow all over you like she was,” she remarked, suddenly less amused.

“What?” Gendry balked. Who was Willow?

“What do you mean ‘what’? Willow, you know, the girl that was running her fingers through your hair for like 25 minutes?”

He was genuinely confused. “I literally have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Seriously, Gendry?” Her amused expression was seeping back onto her face. “She was chatting your ear off about this and that for like, an eternity.”

Maybe he had had a few more drinks than he thought? But he didn’t feel as hungover as he should, if so. “Guess I didn’t notice.”

“You’re an idiot,” she chuckled, going back to her jamming session.

“Like it’s news to you,” he countered. Apparently he had been paying more attention to Arya last night than he remembered. Enough not to notice someone hanging off of him. Which is absolutely why he had noticed Pod. He didn’t see them leave together. But he did remember him snaking an arm around Arya’s waist as he joined the drinking game. Pod had an easygoing personality, which is why everyone loved him. And fucked him, apparently. If he thought back far enough, Gendry could remember his own night with Pod, who was far more commandeering in bed than he was out in the world.

Gendry gave Arya a quizzical look. “What?” she asked, arching her eyebrows.

“Nothing I just — I mean it doesn’t seem like it would work.”

“Doesn’t seem like what would work?” Arya pried, clearly intrigued by where the hell this could possibly be going.

“It’s just that…Pod’s a top. I don’t get the vibe that you’re a bottom.” Gendry had an amused expression on his face as he stared through the windshield.

Arya let out a cackle. “I’m not really. But I do switch it up. Keeps things interesting.” She smirked and took a left turn before her face scrunched up in confusion. “Wait, how do you know that Pod is a top?”

“We uh, had a night together a year ago or maybe less. Last winter. Remember?” Gendry’s time with Pod had mostly been a distraction. Someone to take him home and make him forget about Arya for one night. At the time, she was seeing that Dayne kid. Or maybe it had been after that, during her brief stint unicorning for that gangly couple - Jaqen and his scary looking girlfriend whose name Gendry couldn’t remember. That situation hadn’t ended well for Arya. Or anyone, really. To his knowledge and reprieve, she had scaled back on the hookups since then. Until last night with Pod, of all people.

“Oh my GODS I _completely_ forgot about that!” Something about this was funny to Arya, which was evident because she was laughing so hard that it might have been a driving hazard.

“What’s so funny?” Gendry prompted.

“Ahh,” she sighed, her voice coming down from the high octave of her laughter as she pulled onto campus. “I don’t even know anymore. We had sex with the same person, it’s just a classic queer tale! Small fucking world,” she explained over the bumping music.

“A small fucking world indeed,” he mused.

“So wait, back up,” Arya persisted in keeping this conversation alive, despite Gendry’s moderate yet harmless discomfort. “Did you bottom for Podrick Payne?!”

“Did _you_ bottom for Podrick Payne?”

Arya looked over at him with her eyes wide and a smug grin plastered on her face. “I guess we both know the answer to that question.” She sipped from her straw, her eyes light with effortless teasing. Gendry felt a strange combination of jealousy and arousal curdling in his gut.

“So, are you gonna start dating Pod now?” he ventured.

“No more than you’re gonna date Willow, apparently” she scoffed. “Nice bloke, easy shag. You know the drill.” Arya pulled into a parking space and they both jumped out and grabbed their book bags from the back seat.

“Better than most, I guess.” They began walking toward the library as she continued to tease him.

“Yes, we have now undergone the queer rite of passage that is fucking the same friend as your other friend.” She put a hand on his bicep and a mock-sincere tone in her voice. “So glad we could share this intimate experience, Gendry.” She was leaning into his grumpy mood. He rolled his eyes at her but bit back a grin at her playfulness.

As the pair approached the library, Arya opened the door to allow for Gendry to pass through. “Bottoms first!” she announced - no, _yelled_ \- as he went through the door frame.

“Oh my gods. Shhh.” Gendry instinctively put his hand over her mouth. She giggled, and shook his head at her relentlessness. “I’m going to make you regret all this, Stark.”

“Oh I’m _so scared_,” she pushed his hand away. “What are you going to do? Submit to me?” She feigned fear by bringing the back of her hand to her forehead. Gendry was walking in long strides, but Arya could still keep up with him, sniggering at the blush on his face. She walked backwards down the library hall as she spoke, eyes sparkling. “The evidence is stacked against you, Waters. It’s an empty threat.”

“You tops are so aggressive, you know that?”

“Oh please, that’s the whole point. Nothing would get done without our unbridled enthusiasm.”

“Yeah, your aggression. Like I said.”

“Only doing my duty for the student population of KLU,” she mock curtsied and smirked at him, twirling around to lead them in the direction of their usual table.

Gendry sighed to himself and couldn’t help but grin as he plopped down in his chair and pulled out his textbooks. His jealousy dulled for the time being. It was difficult to be upset sitting across from Arya and her lighthearted teasing pricking at him like needles, if it was at all sane and possible for that to be something to enjoy. Love and lust were animals, it seemed, and Arya Stark was a beast entirely of her own breed.


	2. you go glen coco

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya and Gendry watch Mean Girls and get high. also they MIGHT wrestle im just saying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bumping up the chapters from 3 to 5 as this crack spreads in my head. this chapter was originally going to have more actual plot but there was abundant fluff to be had before we move forward. huge thanks to @jenrk for feedback and also for heavily influencing where the plot is eventually going, but more on that later...
> 
> I'll be editing the tags as I go. im @watersandwolves on tumblr, come hang

“Okay, shut up! This is important,” Arya exclaimed. 

“I wasn’t saying anything,” countered Gendry.

“I know but I felt like you weren’t focused enough to take-in the cinematic masterpiece that transformed our cultural landscape,” she explained as she selected _Mean Girls_ from the home screen on the TV in Gendry’s living room. 

Gendry just rolled his eyes and stole the popcorn bowl from her lap. 

Their Saturday study session had turned into a movie night over the course of the day. This was not an unusual circumstance for the pair. In fact, most Saturdays were spent in this exact capacity. Sometimes it was a movie that followed studying, sometimes it was a party. At either rate, it was always something together. An unspoken tradition. 

They dedicated the entire morning and the better part of the afternoon to their books and essays. After they were depleted of their caffeine reserves and well passed due for a meal, they purchased sandwiches from the campus cafe and ate them on the stretch of university maintained greens. Food scrubbed the impending grumpiness from their tired minds and Gendry had watched Arya fall into a brief but well-earned post-lunch nap on the lawn. He found himself glimpsing at the red hues in her hair that peeked out in the sunlight.

When Arya woke, she declared they had studied too much for one day. They shared a workout, jogging in time with one another around the campus perimeter. And then she dropped him back off at his place, promising to return once she showered and changed at her own. 

She had come in without knocking, per usual, hair damp and jeans cuffed under a different hoodie than before. She plopped down on the couch like it was her own home and grinned at him. “Movie time?” 

“I’ll make popcorn,” he answered, returning the smile and heading to the kitchen. 

-

When the talent show scene was on, Arya was rolling a joint on the coffee table. 

“I used to know this dance,” she shared, gesturing to the comically sexual yet festive routine on screen. “Sansa and I learned it together and we would do it in the living room around the holidays. Mom fucking _hated_ it,” she snorted at the memory and licked her rolling paper. It was easy for Gendry to imagine Cat, stern and unyielding, absolutely mortified at her only daughters dancing like strippers to Christmas music. 

“Ha! Yeah, I would have paid to see that.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth he knew there was something wrong with them, which Arya confirmed by shooting him a sly look. Shit. “I mean—”

“I know what you meant,” she said lightly, raising her eyebrows and lifting the joint to her mouth as she lit the end and took the first drag. She inhaled as she lifted herself from the floor back to the couch. “Rickon always thought it was hysterical,” the smoke billowed out of her mouth as she spoke, swirling around his thighs as she passed him the joint. He pulled it from her fingers and brought it to his mouth, inhaling and then and feeling himself relax further into the couch. 

Gendry was enjoying the movie almost as much as he was enjoying listening to Arya quote lines in real time in nearly every scene. “How many times have you seen this?” he inquired after hearing her give Gretchen’s “Julius Caesar” speech in perfect time and intonation along with the movie. 

“I have no idea, apparently a lot,” she laughed. 

“Pretty impressive,” he admitted. 

She shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t you have a film or show you’ve seen so many times that you can basically quote it front to back?”

“Ummm,” Gendry paused in drug-inducing thought. “I saw _The Notebook _a lot growing up. Mom liked to put it on during the holidays so I think I know a lot of that one by heart….” 

“Yeah, Sansa loooooved that one when we were kids. She probably still does,” Arya considered, staring at the TV. “Rachel McAdams is so fucking hot? I can’t believe she’s the lead of both _that _and _this_. 

Gendry squinted at the screen, recognition dawning on him. “Oh shit, I didn’t even realize it was the same person.” 

“Unreal, right?” Arya reached back for the joint again without looking and Gendry carefully placed it between her fingers. He watched her bring it to her lips again in the dark room. 

-

“I love Janis,” Arya shared a little while later, slumped comfortably against a throw pillow that was between her and Gendry. The butt end of the joint was put out in the ash tray on the coffee table. 

“Makes sense, she’s just as edgy as you,” Gendry smiled at her. 

“The drive, the _gumption_ to just fuck with your enemy until they’re defeated for like, a year? Inspiring.” She was giggling between every couple of words, the weed making her relaxed and even more talkative than usual. Gendry couldn’t help but giggle alongside her. 

“If you’re Janis, does that make me Damien?” 

“You bet your ass it does,” she laughed loudly at the idea knocked Gendry’s leg with her fist. “We were artsy, gay weirdos in high school, it fits perfectly.” 

“We’re artsy, gay weirdos now,” Gendry pointed out. 

“Yeah, but now we’re hot, so that counts more toward our aesthetics.” She was joking, silly from the high, but the equally silly part of him wanted to push her to further that thought.

“Oh, we’re hot now?” He teased her as she sat up more to look at him. “When did that happen?” 

“For you? When you were like, 15. I wasn’t until about 17, though. A late bloomer.” She tossed her hair sarcastically over her shoulder. Gendry did stoned math in his head. When he was 15, Arya was 12. Which was 9 years ago. Did Arya think he was hot when she was 12? Like he was going to ask her _that_. He felt hazy. It was probably the weed. 

Gendry shook his head to dissipate the thought and realized Arya was still looking at him. He coughed a laugh. “I think you’re mad, Stark,” he said nonchalantly. 

“I think you’re stupid.” There was just a touch of edge in her voice. 

“If you’re a bird, I’m a bird,” Gendry quoted. He wasn’t sure why he said it. “And we got two birds stoned at once,” he tacked on. 

Arya squinted her eyes at him and laughed. “Your stoned as shit, my dude.” 

“So are you, my lady,” he quipped, and then braced himself for her attack which was coming down on his shoulder in the form of her fist. He didn’t beat her to it and felt the playful but still painful jab. 

He played up the injury, snickering to himself. “Well, that wasn’t very lady-like!” 

“Hey!” Arya yelped as Gendry put her in a headlock, her back against the seat of the couch. She countered with another strike on the arm that held her firm. She was truly struggling to get free, laughing harder and harder the longer it took her, much to Gendry’s amusement. Arya grunted and flopped on the couch once, twice. He wasn’t sure what she was trying to do, but then she managed to flip her legs up over her torso and land her knees squarely in Gendry’s gut, earning herself a hearty groan and release from his grasp. She had him pinned momentarily.

“Fucking ow,” he exhaled and went to scoop her around the waist just as she dove for safety to the carpet, the force of which landed them both on the floor with Gendry clutching at Arya’s sides as she wiggled for dominance, still laughing as he pinned her shoulders to the ground. Finally, he had a moment of reprieve from her struggle and let his head drop in exhaustion. From there, he could smell her. She smelled like the forest, somehow. And he could hear her warm laughter over panting breath as she briefly went soft beneath him. He felt something internal tug at him below his abdomen. For some gods forsaken reason, his brain chose that moment to make Podrick Payne’s face appear in his head. Gendry fought the urge to physically recoil while simultaneously wondering if _he_ had had Arya under him like this the night before. Had _he _noticed the potent way she smelled as he pressed himself into her….

Arya’s breath stilled, and a moment later her leg was hooked around Gendry’s waist. He felt hazy again, but then he was on his back, all other thoughts forgotten in the image of Arya towering over him. She had flipped them both over and was half straddling him as she applied weight to his chest with her forearms. She looked damn smug about it, too. Gendry yielded, raising his arms in concession. 

“And that’s why you shouldn’t call me ‘my lady,’” Arya informed him. Gendry resisted the urge to call her that again immediately, the weight on his hips very much agreeing with what had resulted. 

“You win fair and square,” he said even though they had both fought dirty. He breathed heavily and gazed up at Arya who still rested on him, illuminated by the flickering TV screen. She hesitated up there for a second, and then dismounted her prey, lying against the couch as she caught her breath. Gendry remained on the floor.

Arya’s face screwed up in thought as the film seemed like it was nearing its end. She snorted at some thought and caught Gendry’s curious eye. She explained with a slow, conspiratorial cadence. “If my being Janis makes you Damien, then by that same logic Hot Pie is Cady.”

They sat with that image for less than one second before they burst out laughing again, clutching their stomachs as tears came to their eyes. 

Gendry watched without reaction as Janis and Damien shared a quick and awkward kiss before they both pulled away, humorously disgusted with what happened. He felt a strange sort of dejection, although muted by his high and the thorough laugh he just had. Gendry glanced over and saw no reaction from Arya either. She was busying herself on her phone. 

“Arianne just texted. Party at hers next Saturday.” 

“So many parties. All the time,” he considered, a little befuddled. 

“It’s uni, Gendry. There are parties every weekend and the weekend is Thursday through Monday.” 

He scoffed. “That’s true I guess. Let’s do it.” 

“I’ll let her know we’re both in.” Arya hoisted herself back onto the couch, knocking him playfully on the shoulder. 

Gendry closed his eyes and rested his head against the cushion, something happy chirping inside him despite himself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ty for reading pls leave a comment with your name, phone number, and social security and credit card numbers xo


	3. it takes three to tango

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya and Gendry party at Arianne's. Pod hatches a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woof so it's been a while since I've posted bc I have had no days off for 2.5 weeks and also this chapter is twice as long as the others!! she ain't perfect but she fun. you get some arya pov now in addition to gendry. and also a tiny bit of pod pov. hope you enjoy. hang with me on tumblr @watersandwolves

Arianne Martell could really throw a party. 

This wasn’t like the cozy yet boozy gatherings of less than twenty that Arya had found herself in many weekends throughout her time at university. This was _loud _and busy, a cacophony of bass and chatter filling her ears the moment she stepped through the door. There were at least a hundred people filtering through the tall, open space of the colorfully decorated but somewhat lavish apartment, with more littered outside. 

Arya arrived alone with every intention of meeting up with several friends once she got there. From the size of things, she could guess that it would take her a while to find any of them. She wanted to find Gendry first, knowing his aversion to parties. Also, she noticed, she just wanted to see him. She wove her way through clumps of people, easily sneaking her way through small passages until she arrived close to a wall. Best to stick with the perimeter, knowing Gendry to be a bit of a wallflower at these things. 

She found him near a corner in the living room. He was leaning up against the wall with a beer in hand next to Arianne’s vinyl collection. The bass-y music vibrating the building was coming from a speaker system on the other side of the room, rather than from the comparatively modest record player. She paused several feet away to watch him, momentarily obscured by a group of socializing students. He was talking to someone and she strained to her side to see who. To her amusement, and marginal anxiety, it was Pod. 

Gendry looked…frustratingly good. All the time, really, she knew, but dammit. It was getting more difficult to determine the boundaries of their friendship. Feeling the weight of Gendry on her last weekend as he wrestled her to the ground, and then feeling him beneath her when she bested him - it made her want to grab the bull by the horn and risk it all right then and there. But she sensed his hesitation and didn’t want to make her friend uncomfortable with her advances. 

She had been toying with him slightly as of late. Just putting the suggestion of flirtation out there when they were alone. Gendry wasn’t giving much back, though. He mostly just looked at her like she had said something in another language. Not now, though. Now he smiled warmly at her as she approached the pair of boys, his eyes still clearly blue in the dim lighting. Or maybe Arya imagined she could still see the color. He ran a hand through his dark hair and looked like a brooding film star. Pod looked like Pod. 

“Thank gods you’re here,” Gendry lamented. “I was starting to think you’d abandoned me and I would have to endure this party all by myself.” 

Arya suspected foul play. “Okay, drama queen. How long have you even been here?”

“18 excruciating minutes.” 

“Hey, I take offense to that as someone who has been speaking to you for at least 6 of those minutes,” Pod chimed in. 

“Like I said,” Gendry gestured to Pod but spoke directly to Arya. “Excruciating.” 

Arya rolled her eyes. “What have you been talking about?” 

“You, mostly,” Pod offered with an innocent smile. 

She shifted her eyes between the boys. “What about me?” 

Pod opened his mouth but Gendry beat him to it. “I was telling Pod how impressive it was to watch you quote the entirety of _Mean Girls_ last weekend.” 

“I think that’s kind of a weird brag,” Pod shrugged. 

“It _is_ a weird brag, but that’s probably why Gendry likes it,” she shot him a playful look. 

Gendry narrowed his eyes. “What are you saying?”

“That you have weird taste.” She smirked at him. 

“I prefer ‘unusual taste’ actually, but thanks.” 

“It wasn’t strictly a compliment, but you’re welcome.” She took his beer from his hands and took a swig.

“Hey!” Gendry made to grab the bottle back from her but she was too quick. “Get your own, Stark. They’re in the kitchen.” 

“But this one is right here,” she gestured to the bottle to overemphasize the fact that it was still in her possession. 

“Fine, keep it. I’ll get another one.” But he still made another playful grab for the stolen drink. 

“Afraid you’re going to get cooties from this one?” 

“Cooties? What are we, five?” 

“I hope not.” She raised an eyebrow and downed the rest of the bottle while maintaining eye contact with him. 

Amused, Gendry waited for her to finish her little stunt before departing to the kitchen. “I’ll be right back,” he announced, and starting winding his way out of the room.

“Wow,” said a very close-by voice that made Arya jump, just a little. Oh, it was Pod. She had almost forgotten he was there. 

“‘Wow,’ what?” She turned to Pod and his…excited? expression. 

“So. _You_ wanna fuck Gendry.” It was way more of a statement than a question. Her heart was suddenly beating twice as fast. “Wanna hear what he’s like?”

“Pod, what the fuck?” She eyed Gendry anxiously but he was definitely out of earshot. 

“I was just watching you two. You’re basically in love. Sorry if you hadn’t noticed.” 

“Piss off, Pod.” 

“Okay, okay. But you should know…” He leaned toward her conspiratorially and she leaned away in response. “His dick is really big. That’s all.” He twiddled his fingers in her face and she swatted him away as he moved away to infiltrate another social group. She sighed and turned to look for Gendry again, who was returning with two uncapped beers, only to find he was already watching her with a curious expression. Her conversation with Pod must have looked bizarre from the outside. Hells, it was bizarre from the inside. 

Gendry handed her the drink and they clinked bottles. “Pod’s being weird, huh?” 

“Good thing you like weird.” She shrugged and sipped. He was giving her that strange look again like she had said something foreign. 

“Hm,” was all he could offer then. They leaned against the wall together to people watch. 

——

It was the inevitable portion of the night when Arya had either dragged or been dragged by some friends to the dance floor of Arianne’s living room. Gendry found he almost couldn’t bear it, watching her spin and sway song after song in what felt like mood lighting. He had a obliged her a few dances, although he never felt drunk enough to completely enjoy it as much as he enjoyed watching her. At some point he left to wander, to clear his head a little, and found an empty room. 

He was only alone for a few moments when the door opened again and Pod came through.

“Hey mate, I was looking for you.” Pod shut the door and approached him. 

“Here I am.”

“Here you are. Where’s Arya?”

“Dancing.” He gave Pod a small smile and looked away. 

“Of course,” came Pod’s response. Gendry supposed Pod knew Arya well enough that it was no surprise she’d be at the center of the dance floor. Then again, Pod knew Arya in ways Gendry did not, a fact he was reminding himself of not for the first time that night.

He looked at Pod again, who had gotten closer and looked like he was expecting Gendry to say something. 

“Er, what?”

“I said, you look really fantastic tonight.” Pod started running a hand up and down Gendry’s arm. _Oh. _

He suddenly recalled his night with Pod many months ago. That night resembled this one in many ways. There was a big party. Arya had been…somewhere not too far away. And Pod was coming onto him like it was the most simple thing in the world. 

Gendry felt his cheeks flush at the touch and at the memories. His stomach twisted as he thought of Pod doing the same things to Arya that he had done to him. 

Did Pod bend her over _like that_? Did he whisper dirty things in her ear? A kind of zeal washed over him. He wanted to feel what she felt. He wondered if he bit far enough into Pod, would he taste Arya? He tried - unsuccessfully - to shake the feeling from his body as he tilted his face toward Pod, who took the movement as his cue to kiss him fully. 

Gendry bit back hungrily, yearning to uncover something he couldn’t quite place. Pod was leading, of course, and he gently pressed Gendry into the wall. 

“So listen,” Pod said against his mouth after a few moments. He was dragging his lips down over Gendry’s jaw, which felt very pleasant. When they got to his throat, he continued, “I know you’ve got this thing for Arya.” Gendry froze, and Pod bit just a little too hard on his neck, causing him to inhale sharply. Gendry leaned away to give Pod an incredulous look. 

“What?” Gendry all but shouted. 

“Arya.” Pod re-emphasized as if it was a basic concept. “You wanna bang your bestie. Totally natural, bro.” He paused for a brief smile before working his mouth back to Gendry’s collarbone. “Been there. In more ways than one,” he added. 

Gendry clenched his jaw, the now familiar mix of jealousy and arousal beginning to blur behind his eyes and below his waistband, where Pod was running his fingers over sensitive skin. Gendry found he could say nothing. He titled his head back against the wall, closing his eyes in surrender. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know what she’s like?” Pod whispered in his ear as he slid his hand over the bulge in Gendry’s pants. 

Yes? Fucking hells. “No!” Gendry insisted, but he had a hard time insisting when his cock was being squeezed through his jeans, so his “no” came out as more of a groan than a declaration. 

“Are you sure?” Pod slipped his hand into Gendry’s pants and knowingly grasped his erection. He bit at Gendry’s right nipple through his shirt, eliciting an involuntary moan. “You don’t want to know how good and wet she can be?” Pod pumped his hand around Gendry’s ever-stiffening shaft. “How loud she can be if you suck on that pretty little nipple piercing?” 

“Fuck,” Gendry cried, trying not to let this little fantasy run too wild in his head. It was too easy to picture, and it certainly wasn’t the first time he tried. This wasn’t fair at all, and Pod was milking it. He had him cornered, literally. 

The door opened, light and music flooding through the gap. Gendry was against the wall with Pod hovering in front of him, his hand most definitely jerking him off. And it was fucking Arya at the door. Gendry met her stunned, stormy eyes first. And then Pod lazily glanced around to see who had stumbled in.

“Oh, hey Arya,” he said all too casually, happily even, for someone that was not only mid-handjob but seconds ago had been conjuring sexual images of her for Gendry’s fancy. 

“Shit. Err…hi.” She seemed a bit frozen. But just for a second. Pod had only loosened his grip slightly. “I’ll uh…see you guys later. Sorry,” she tacked on, hurriedly shutting the door and sweeping the party back out with her. 

Gendry continued to stare at the door until Pod squeezed him and he shut his eyes, banging his head just a little too hard against the wall. 

Pod’s smug voice was still in front of him. “Well, that was a coincidence. You should have asked her to stay.” 

Gendry’s eyes snapped open. Mortified. Embarrassed. Aroused. He didn’t want to hear anymore from Pod. What Arya chose to do in her spare time was up to her, he didn’t have any right to hear about it, no matter how much it made him ache to his core for her to show him herself. Gendry grabbed Pod’s chin. “Stop talking,” he demanded, and pushed the dark head of hair down until he was on his knees.

“Gendry, I’m impressed! That was some distinct top energy,” Pod said from the floor as he undid Gendry’s button and zip. 

“I mean it.” Gendry put his hand around the back of Pod’s head and guided himself into his open mouth. Pod accepted with a little humming sound. “Shhhhh,” Gendry cooed. 

The easy thing about Pod is that he knew what he was doing. This made it all the more effortless for Gendry’s eyes to roll back in his head as he thought about Arya’s bright hair cascading around her as she freed her breasts from her top. And her wide eyes locking on his as she might straddle him. And the doubtlessly intoxicating swing of her hips beneath him, on top of him, around him. Gods he wanted it.

He wanted to be intertwined with her in every possible way. He wanted to know every crook and corner of her body, every sacred spot and secret sound she could share. He wanted to drink her orgasm and then fold himself into her until his own bliss was delivered. And then he wanted to hold her until it was time to undo one another again. 

Gendry climaxed without having to think about it. At his release, he opened his eyes again to see Pod swallow with a very pronounced smug look on his face. There was no hint of expectation in his expression as he stood and kissed Gendry briefly on the cheek. 

“Nice to see you, Gendry.” Pod smiled casually as he ran his hands over his hair and made toward the door to rejoin the party. 

——

Some time later, Pod floated through Arianne’s home, stopping here and there to mingle. He paused when he rounded the corner to the den and spied Arya and Gendry on the couch against the back wall. They were sitting with just a little too much distance between them, but seemed to be fixated on one another rather seriously. 

His plan had been formulating slowly throughout the evening. Now he just had to finish off his night’s work with a final push. He had an offer to make that might string the two of them together. If it didn’t work, he could always blame the alcohol for his ideas. He strolled over to the couch and sat right in between Arya and Gendry, putting an arm around each of them. 

“Well look who it is,” Arya said, a little flatly. “How’s your night going, Pod?”

He ignored her question. “You know, I have been thinking all night. I can’t believe I fucked both of you. It’s truly an honor. You’re both an excellent lay.” 

He glanced to Gendry, who was staring at his drink and blushing, and then to Arya, who was determinedly looking at Pod and not Gendry.

“Oh… thanks, I guess?”

“No, thank _you._” He kissed her cheek, and then Gendry’s. “We should all do it together some time,” he added very casually, but also very sincerely. 

He heard Arya choke a little on her drink as he swung his arms back from behind the pair and placed a hand on the thighs closest to him, depositing a squeeze as he hoisted himself from the couch and walked away without another word. He didn’t have to turn around to know the stunned looks on their faces. 

Pod smiled to himself as he continued meandering through the party. It suited him, he thought, playing matchmaker. Was he fucking with them? A little. But was he also completely serious about his offer? Most definitely. Would he see to it that Arya and Gendry fuck the shit out of each other at least once? With everything in his power. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol do you like it? I promise the gendrya smut you'll eventually get will absolutely overshadow what happened here. thank you for reading and commenting, it's nice to know others enjoy this silly, sexy tale. again, @watersandwolves on tumblr.


	4. haha just kidding...unless??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pod throws a party. Arya tries to get Gendry to dance with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay sorry it took me a literal month to update i did not mean to wait so long!! thank you for all your lovely comments and general support on the last chapter, it was very validating. i'm so happy so many people are vibing with this story. in true fic writer fashion, this chapter got much longer than intended so I've cut it off and bumped the total chapters up to 6. 
> 
> ALSO I made a playlist for this fic. it starts with the song arya is jamming to at the beginning of the story and moves through some accompanying pieces for the other chapters, including this one. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/00x4uiSkzd8x8aGQQrYfqb?si=gLUzmSglRHmtWlsv1t412g
> 
> cw for this chap: there's kind of a lot of discussion of alcohol in this one.   
i'm @watersandwolves on tumblr, come hang!

It was a weird week. 

Arianne’s party had ended rather abruptly for Arya after Pod’s little stunt. It took Gendry a whole day to meet her eyes after that, much to her chagrin. Was he so put off by her that the mere suggestion they sleep together could be met with such mortification? 

_ He didn’t wait long to get up from the couch after Pod walked away. “Alright. I think I’m gonna call it a night,” he said. _

_ Arya winced. “Oh. Okay. Yeah, I’ll probably head out soon, too.” _

_ Gendry was busying himself with his nearly empty beer bottle. He faced her but didn’t look at her. “You can get home alright?”_

_ “Yeah, no worries.”_

_ “Okay, I’ll see you later.” He had started to walk away when she grabbed his arm._

_ “Gendry,” she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say, but he had paused, his muscle tensing beneath her hand. “That was…” Perplexing? Embarrassing? Enticing? “Weird,” she decided. “Pod’s been weird all night, don’t, like…” she sighed but it came out as a kind of nervous chuckle. “Don’t worry about it, about what he said.” _

_ Gendry stilled for a fraction of a moment. “Yeah, no, I won’t.” _

_ Arya let her grip drop then, and Gendry slid away from her and out of the party._

He seemed tense for a few days. She wasn’t sure what he had to brood about. She had already talked to him about walking in on him and Pod. Or, she had tried to before Pod himself came over and interrupted. 

It didn’t bother her that they had hooked up again. In fact, she found it more than a little stirring. There was a part of her - that she wasn’t necessarily proud of - that felt stunned at the proximity between their hookups with Pod. It shouldn’t matter, she told herself. But something about it made all her organs feel twisted up. Like she had suddenly become aware that she had been holding her breath for a long time but still couldn’t let go. 

She tried to quell the feeling, drowning it out with music or hyper-fixating on her textbooks. At night, or sometimes in the morning, when she went digging into the flesh between her legs, she felt she could almost find release from it. But then it always crawled back to her, smelling of Gendry. 

Gendry was definitely flustered, at the very least. Which made Arya flustered. He was cordial, still, but sullen. Very much not his usual self. Pod had sidled between them like a wedge of ice. Ironic, she thought, that his proposition intended to do the opposite. But, judging from Gendry’s cold reaction, such a scenario wasn’t even on the table.

It stung somehow like rejection even though she hadn’t said anything or put herself out there, really. But worse than that was his silence. Pod’s little proposition didn’t matter in comparison to her friendship with Gendry. Arya had enough of the awkwardness. So much so that it was making her a little mad. She couldn’t take the quiet, not from him, and she was building the courage to put her foot down. 

They didn’t talk about it again until the middle of the week, when she cornered him by bringing it up when he literally couldn’t escape: in the car, with Arya behind the wheel. 

She began her interrogation after the first five minutes of their carpool to school was in harrowing silence. “So, when are you going to tell me what the fuck is wrong?” She let a little of the ice slip into her voice. 

Gendry was immediately defensive. “What?” He recoiled into his side of the car.“Nothing’s wrong. What are you talking about?” He wasn’t going to get away with not talking about it, but she knew he would try.

Arya rolled her eyes so hard it was audible. “You’ve been ignoring me ever since Pod basically told us he wanted to have a threesome.” She actually said the word that was looming between them. Threesome. Like she was breaking some kind of spell. She felt Gendry’s gaze jerk to her. 

“That’s _not_ true,” he countered. But it was pretty true.

“Oh _right_, you’ve been acting _totally_ normal. Excuse me,” she let her frustration out through sarcasm. 

“You’re excused,” he said, radiating obstinance. 

Arya huffed as other, more vulnerable emotions threatened to spill out over her anger. “Gendry, just — you can tell me if something’s wrong, obviously.”

He sighed. “Nothing’s wrong, Arya. Really.” 

“Oh, _sure_.” She shook her head and suppressed a groan. “Are you _so_ offended by the concept of sleeping with me that the mere suggestion of it causes you to ignore me for days?” She aired her grievance and then held her breath. 

She could feel Gendry soften beside her, but she kept her eyes on the road. “Arya,” his voice came out much quieter. “No…no, I’m not — that’s not what I’m feeling.” There was a pause, and she could feel him watching her now. 

“Then what are you feeling?” She prodded. When he hesitated, she added, “I’d really like to know.” 

He spoke slowly, appearing to select his words carefully. “I guess I…was more concerned with _you _being uncomfortable with that. With, um, what Pod said, I mean.” Oh. 

So maybe he wasn’t disgusted with her. The possibility made her feel lighter instantly. “No, have you met me? It’s pretty hard to make me uncomfortable.” 

Gendry laughed a little and nodded. 

There was a moment’s pause. “Did we just spend three days being mad about basically the same thing?” She cringed at the idea. 

“Seems like maybe we did,” Gendry conceded, sounding more like himself. 

They were quiet as Arya parked her car and they gathered their things from her back seat. He spoke again as they started toward the heart of campus. 

“We can forget that he ever said that, you know.” 

“Absolutely. It’s forgotten,” Arya agreed, content to have her friend back. 

“Besides, wouldn’t you feel weird about having sex with me?” He asked as if the answer could be easy, honest, or casual in any way. 

Two could play at that. “Would you feel weird about having sex with _me_?”

Gendry stammered. Arya watched a blush cover his face and grew suspicious. 

“I, uh,” he failed to form words as his eyes darted around at nothing in particular. Idiot. “I’m gonna…be late to class,” he finished and spun around, making a direct line away from Arya and not looking back. 

Arya swallowed a hysterical laugh, staring after her flummoxed friend for several moments. He was already quite a distance away when she called out to him. 

“What the fuck, Waters?” She turned up her arms so her whole body asked the question. 

Gendry twirled to face her from far away, and she was surprised to see him smiling, but still definitely blushing. “Bye!” came his only response, his arm raised in a curt wave as he continued his walk to class. 

Arya inhaled sharply and held her breath. She continued staring after him as rain began to fall. 

—

Pod Payne 11:42am: Greetings pretty lady, I doth request your presence at mine home this Saturday’s eve for bacchanalian pleasures

Arya Stark 11:55am: why do you sound like you’re wearing a fedora?

Pod Payne 11:56am: Thinking about what I’m wearing, eh? 

Pod Payne 11:56am: I’ll give you a hint: it’s not much 

Arya Stark 11:57am: riveting. don’t you have class? or are you naked in class rn? 

Pod Payne 11:58am: Wouldn’t you like to know.

Pod Payne 11:59am: You didn’t seem to mind my quips the other week when you were moaning my name…

Arya Stark 12:00pm: that’s neither here nor there 

Pod Payne 12:01pm: It is both here and there

Pod Payne 12:01pm: Anyway cum to my party on Saturday

Pod Payne 12:02pm: come******

Pod Payne 12:02pm: or also cum. Dealer’s choice.

Arya Stark 12:05pm: if I can recover from this conversation by Saturday, I’ll be there

Pod Payne 12:06pm: heart eyes, motherfucker

__

Pod Payne 12:06pm: Gendry dearest, you WILL do me the honor of attending my party this Saturday night

Pod Payne 12:06pm: Arya already said she would come so obvi you’ll be there, yeah? 

Gendry Waters 12:15pm: ..do I really not get a say? 

Pod Payne 12:17pm: no you do not

Gendry Waters 12:18pm: alright then guess I’ll be there 

Pod Payne 12:19pm: xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pod Payne 12:19pm: You won’t regret it!!

Gendry Waters 12:20pm: somehow I doubt that

__

When Gendry arrived to Pod’s place on Saturday night, he had barely spoken to Arya since their car conversation. They had talked about meeting at Pod’s, and also about some random school related things. They definitely didn’t talk anymore about sex. But there was an air of tension around them all the time now. Something was different between them, and Gendry didn’t think that was necessarily a bad thing. It didn’t feel bad. It felt inviting. 

Something had passed between them in the student lot as he scurried off to class. It was unspoken, but he could feel it. Like a current of some kind. A magnetism that pulled him toward Arya like she were his own true North. It was getting easier to admit to himself that this might be the case. 

The nerves he felt as he drew into the party were not so much because of Arya but because of Pod. Gods knew what kind of stunt he might try to pull tonight. But there was a part of him, not entirely unrelated to the part that led him to Arya, that wanted to find out. 

So he felt more relaxed than expected as he rounded the corner to Pod’s kitchen and took in Arya, who met his eyes instantly. She gave him a genuine grin that lit up her face under her pink waves, which were half tied up on top of her head. Gendry’s gaze drifted over her form as he smiled back at her. She was wearing a black top over ripped blue jeans, a bit of her midriff exposed at the rib. There was a beer in her hand, which she placed on the counter behind her to wrap Gendry in an unexpected embrace. 

“Hi,” she said from around his waist. 

“Hello to you,” he replied, pleasantly surprised by the affection. “Are you drunk already?” 

“Not really,” her grin turned into a smirk. “I was waiting for you to take a shot with me.” 

“Sounds dangerous,” he narrowed his eyes in feigned hesitance. 

“It is. It might be the only way I get you to dance with me tonight. Which is mandatory, by the way.” She drew back from him and shot him a challenging glare, one eyebrow expertly lifted. Her hands were still resting above his hips. 

Gendry matched her expression in amusement. “I guess we’ll see what ‘one-shot Gendry’ wants to do,” he suggested. 

“If ‘one-shot Gendry’ doesn’t want to dance with me, I am killing him and replacing him with ‘two-shot Gendry,’” she informed him, matter-of-factly. “I will not lose.” 

He chuckled at her. “It’s not a competition, I don’t think?” 

“You think wrong.” She leaned closer to him as a conspiratorial gleam overtook her face. “And I’m going to win.”

“I’d say I wouldn’t bet against you, but it’s just so much fun.” He jostled her shoulder lightly and she rolled her eyes. 

“Losing is so much fun?” 

“To you? Yes.” 

Arya threw her head back in laughter. “You’re such a fucking bottom,” she wheezed. 

“Glad I amuse you,” he said, although he felt he was the one thoroughly amused. 

“Come on,” she started dragging him by the shirt. “Pod is supplying gin and limes.” 

Pod was, turns out, physically handing out said gin in the next room. He was smiling to his party-goers, his dark hair disheveled in a curated kind of way. 

“Pod!” Arya had to speak loudly over the music. 

“Arya!” He hugged the little wolf, lifted her off the ground and spun her around, earning himself a not-so-light whack on the arm and a signature Arya Stark scowl. Gendry smirked at her. 

“Gendry!” Pod exclaimed in the same exact voice and somehow managed to lift him as well despite Gendry being the larger one, but only made about half a spin before losing balance. “It was worth a shot,” Pod shrugged. 

“Was it?” Gendry pushed, and Pod winked at him in response. 

“Nice of you to provide booze,” Arya gestured to the cluster of bottles littering the table. 

“It’s not a party without some lubrication,” he explained and his eyes twinkled. Gendry swallowed a cough. He felt Arya roll her eyes. 

“I need to loosen this one up if I’m going to get a dance partner,” she jerked her thumb at Gendry. 

“Ooh, I’m sure we can make that happen. Can’t we, Gendry?” Pod looked at him with exaggerated suggestion in his eyes as he poured two shots. “Look at her,” he said, placing his hands on Arya’s shoulders. “Is this the face of a girl you want to say no to?” Arya gave him a dramatic pout, pursing her bottom lip in an unfair way. Pod mimicked the expression. They looked ridiculous. 

“Maybe if she asks nicely,” Gendry offered and picked up a shot glass. 

Arya let out a dry cackle and grabbed the other glass. “Bet,” she said, her voice full of defiance and her eyes of humor. She touched her tiny glass to his own and they tilted their heads to drain them. 

—

Arya didn’t need alcohol to want to dance, but it did enhance her enthusiasm for the activity. 

She came on strong. Her first attempt to get Gendry to dance was by yelling, “Gendry, think fast! Dirty dancing lift!” And then charging at him, jumping onto him as he tried, and failed, to lift her up in time. It resulted in a tangled mess of limbs on Pod’s living room floor and Arya laughing into Gendry’s chest for a long moment before climbing off him and helping him to stand again. She made him take his second shot after that. “You’ll catch me better if you have more drinks,” she insisted. 

“I really, really don’t think that’s true,” he countered as she handed him the full shot.

“You’re right but it will be funnier this way.” She clinked his glass and they drank in unison.

—

“Does ‘two-shot Gendry’ want to dance with me?” She asked a while later after having circled back to the makeshift dance floor. 

Gendry groaned in protest. He wasn’t much of a dancer. 

“It’s either dance with me or take a shot. Your call, dude.” She was already dancing in front of him as she spoke, it seemed like she was incapable of not moving to the music. 

“I think I’d physically need another one to dance,” Gendry admitted. 

“We can make that happen,” she smiled mischievously and took his hand in her own - warm, small, and strong - and guided him through the crowd.

—

In the end it was Pod who convinced him. 

It was Pod who joined Arya on the dance floor when the beat was pulsing and the lights low, and Pod who Arya smiled at as he began moving with her to the music. It was Pod who slid his hands around Arya’s waist and immediately found Gendry’s gaze and winked, as if he knew all along that Gendry would be watching. 

Gendry, warmed by gin and jealousy, abandoned his beer bottle on a bookshelf and wove through the building crowd of dancers. He swiftly found Arya, jumping and gyrating, rolling her head with her eyes fluttering open and closed, open and closed. Realizing his presence, Arya and Pod cheered with comical intensity. He couldn’t help but laugh.

“Gendryyyyyy,” cooed Arya.

“Yeaaaaaah boyyyyy,” Pod yelled at the same time. 

“This means I win!” Arya shouted over the music. Gendry responded by twirling her under his arm and she squealed with delight and caught herself with her hand on the back of his neck, where it stayed as she continued her dance. The song was somewhat frantic and Gendry struggled to keep up, but he quickly forwent any thought of that at the sight of Arya rotating her hips with what had to be reckless abandon since he was quite sure it would kill him. It would be a good death, he decided. He wasn’t sure how he ever resisted her. 

So he didn’t flinch when Pod took his hand and guided it to Arya’s side, both of their hands resting there like it was somehow normal. But maybe it was. He couldn’t tell anymore. There was only the music, the exuberance of Pod’s confidence, and Arya’s soft, bare skin under his palm. 

He didn’t really notice one song transitioning to the next, and then more after that, or the ebb and flow of people around them. He was rooted to the spot, or maybe to Arya, that now familiar electric current trailing before him. 

Pod stooped to whisper something in Arya’s ear from behind and her eyes found Gendry’s. Her expression was concentrated as Pod caressed the curve of her neck and she didn’t break her gaze. She wasn’t searching him, no, but seemed to be holding his eyes to focus herself as if for balance. And Gendry let himself be suspended there for what may have been five seconds, or maybe several lifetimes. 

Arya nodded to Pod then, who curled an arm around her and spun her away from him, away from the room, sliding out of Gendry’s grasp. Pod took hold of Gendry’s wrist and gently guided him after that head of pink hair, slipping down the hallway. He knew intuitively what would happen if he followed after them and he wanted to see it through. There were no doubts, just an ache for resolve. 

They rounded a corner and he couldn’t see Arya anymore, but Pod continued to lead him, sturdy and calm. The music faded slightly as they moved further away, mingled with the dull roar of myriad conversation. Gendry suddenly became aware of his own pulse. Was he imagining he could feel the blood swimming in his veins? The air was warm but his skin prickled. Pod ceased their course outside an innocuous door in the hall. Gendry thought maybe it was the door to Pod’s room, but when it was pulled open it revealed a space too snug to be a bedroom. Gendry noted a shelf full of items it was too dark to discern, a washing machine, a tapestry over the far wall, and Arya standing with her back to him. All other observations fell away to make room for her. 

The door closed and suddenly his whole world was inside that room, alight with that electric humming and the faint illumination of Arya’s skin, whispering secrets just out of reach. Pod smiled at him with a reassurance that he was surprised he did not need. 

Arya turned and briefly regarded Gendry with something soft in her eyes. When she gave her gaze to Pod, he closed the small space between them and tilted her mouth to his own, capturing her bottom lip in a slow and steady kiss. Gendry exhaled all the air left in his lungs. He watched Arya’s closed eyelids, listened to her short breaths. Pod made a noise of approval as he trailed a hand down her side and threaded a finger through a loop in her jeans. She sighed - a simple little sign of pleasure - and it was the most curious sound Gendry had ever heard. It was just an introduction to the ones he hoped to hear. 

He did not feel the usual pull of jealousy as he watched them. He knew that this, too, was for him. He was too alive with intrigue to fret. 

As they kissed, Gendry felt Pod’s fingers lace with his own, guiding him closer to the pair. And then Pod traded Arya’s mouth for Gendry’s. This much Gendry had done before, but there was a new taste wet on Pod’s lips. It was Arya, he realized with a jolt to his core. He hungrily fished his tongue over Pod’s, reveling in the warmth there that had come from another. Pod brushed his fingertips over Gendry’s abdomen and down, down over the front of his zipper, applying some pressure where it counted. He heard Arya inhale sharply. 

Pod pulled away to lick along the hollow of his throat. Surely, easily, he found Gendry’s hand and once more gave it to Arya’s waist. Gendry thumbed the hemline of her top as he felt himself being rotated toward her. Her hands appeared just above his elbows and she dug into him slightly as she stumbled into him - Pod was physically pushing them together, it seemed. 

Her eyes were wide on his and full of pleading. There was something like desperation on her face as she clutched at him. When Gendry reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, she leaned into the touch and there was the birth of a smile at the corner of her mouth.

She surged at him, then. Her hands were in his hair faster than he could comprehend and her mouth was warm against his. She whimpered into him and he swallowed the sound. He sucked on her lip in a frenzy and she all but threw herself around him, locking her arms tightly around his neck as he kissed his way along her jaw. Each kiss revealed the depth of his longing, or so he hoped. 

He was vaguely aware of Pod kneading his fingers into his lower back, nibbling at his shoulders, lightly pressing his hips into Gendry. And then Arya’s hands were venturing over him as well, crawling up under his shirt to paw at his abdomen. So much blood rushed into his cock that he was surprised there was enough elsewhere to keep him from fainting. 

He bent forward to scoop his arms under Arya’s thighs, lifting her effortlessly and depositing her on the washing machine. Arya didn’t object. She wrapped her legs around his hips and kissed him senseless as one of his hands explored the skin under her top. She wasn’t wearing a bra, he noticed, and his thumb travelled up over the curve of her breast to brush across her nipple, eliciting a wild gasp that made him ravenous. 

“Arya,” he whispered against her mouth, pressing his torso between her legs. He marveled at how much heat she was giving off. 

Gendry barely registered the sound of the door. He didn’t really care if someone walked in on them, not when he finally had Arya wrapped around him, moaning softly. But Arya reacted much more sharply. Her head snapped up, Gendry’s nose lingering against her neck. 

“What the fuck?” He heard the confusion in her voice and looked up at her. He felt her freeze entirely, so he let his hand slide out from under her shirt to rest on her knee. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, a little startled. 

She looked at him like a deer in headlights, caught inexplicably where she hadn’t meant to be but also exactly where she could expect to be found. 

“Um,” she tore her glassy eyes away from his and glanced around the room. He mimicked the action, searching for an answer. 

Pod had gone, he realized, remembering the sound of the door gently shutting. That was odd. Why would Pod leave if he was the one who brought them all in here in the first place? 

In the dim light, Arya looked horrified. _Shit_. She hopped down onto the floor and made a few paces toward the door. 

“Arya, wait,” he said, feeling several steps behind her. 

“I don’t…this is....What the fuck is happening?” she asked out loud but not necessarily to Gendry. 

He felt something sink inside him. Did she change her mind? They were quite drunk. Was it a mistake? Gendry thought he might disintegrate into the carpet. 

Arya tossed him one more distressed look before flinging open the door and disappearing on the other side. 

He was alone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY i couldn't resist the DRAMA of it all
> 
> again, I originally wasn't intending to end this chapter here but arya and gendry literally won't shut up and things were getting long. i promise you're only dealing with like 1 second of angst here, if you can even call it that. 
> 
> thank you for reading. this was actually pretty hard to write, so feel free to let me know what you think!


	5. when the party's over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> arya grapples with some Big Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay fuck THANK YOU for being so patient, I know it has been literally 2 months, which was not how I intended for this to go but here we are. once again bumped up the chapters because I keep miscalculating. 
> 
> enjoy a switch playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/00x4uiSkzd8x8aGQQrYfqb?si=q2W2NU0KSLGTZ4NgreXMzg  
when planning out this chapter I really leaned on Garden Shed by Tyler the Creator which is A) a queer anthem B) all about being honest with yourself about who you are and who you love. 
> 
> I'm watersandwolves on tumblr :)

The hallway seemed to sway and stretch as she stumbled toward the sound of music. She noticed there were people around her now, but she couldn’t really see them. _Gin_, Arya thought half-heartedly. _This is gin’s fault_. She breathed heavily through her mouth, inhaling the dense air created by dozens of intoxicated people in a closed space. She was much too warm and clutched absentmindedly at the exposed skin of her collarbone. Her skin responded with the recent flesh memory of being kissed, touched. She shivered, then swallowed. 

There was a reason she had come out here but she was having trouble remembering exactly what that line of reasoning was. Maybe if she thought it through enough she wouldn’t think about what just happened in the closet. She wouldn’t think about why her heart was practically vibrating behind her ribs. Or about a certain boy’s blue eyes boring so intensely into her own that she thought she would completely unravel. _Gendry. Gendry Gendry Gendry_. _Shit. _Arya was _not _running away. No, definitely not. She was just…vamping? Stalling? Avoiding? 

Answers. She left to find answers. Pod totally abandoned them back there, but why? This whole thing was his idea in the first place, even if they never really talked about it. She followed him, blind to his actual whereabouts, back into the hub of the party. She didn’t think about Gendry’s touch and how it felt impossibly familiar, easy. She didn’t think at all. 

She saw Pod from afar. He was leaning against the kitchen door, his arm wound around some girl’s waist. He was laughing with her, twirling a string of her dark hair around his finger. _He bounces back fast_, she rolled her eyes at the thought. Pod seemed to sense her gaze then and snapped up to look at her. His eyes widened. He looked surprised. And then he looked mad, for some reason Arya couldn’t discern. His mouth fell open into a little, offended “o”. She could only look back at him in confusion.

“Arya Stark!” He yelled, causing a few nearby people to turn their heads. He pointed emphatically behind her. “You get back in that closet!”

_A little on the nose_, she thought. She narrowed her eyes at him but he only mouthed “_go_” and shooed her away like she was caught somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be. 

She felt glued to the floor as her one excuse for what she just did was telling her to turn back around. A half-baked realization enveloped her: Pod did this on purpose. Whatever “this” was, she was throughly in the middle of it. And she had left Gendry dragging behind. She groaned as her head fell into her hands. 

The night took her by surprise. Even though she knew what would happen if she sauntered down that hall, two boys trailing behind her. Even though she wanted it. Still wanted it. Wanted Gendry most of all, the force of which jolted her. She hadn’t expected the care in his eyes, nor the tender yet urgent enrapture of his embrace. But most of all, she could not have predicted her equally frenzied response. 

Arya kept her head in her hands as her heart threatened to escape from her chest. How could she not have noticed before? That pull she felt toward Gendry - tightly coiled, electric, alive - had everything to do with the tenderness, the adoration she was now feeling; more wholesome but not at all separate from the heat they had just created together in only a moment. This wasn’t just lust, she realized. These were some Feelings. Rather intense ones. 

Of course she cared for Gendry. He was her best friend and he had always been important. But this…this was something different. Something more. It was something other people referred to as “falling,” but she was pretty sure it was more like having a ton of bricks dropped on her head, current experience in consideration. It was violently and undeniably visceral. Against the darkness of her closed lids, she saw Gendry’s face and learned the meaning of certainty. 

She wasn’t sure how long she just stood there, dumbstruck, but her body seemed to change course before she fully realized what she was doing. With apparent resolve, she turned suddenly to weave her way back down the hall, but instead she smacked hard into something. Someone. 

“Fuck!” She cried at the impact. Two hands instinctively grasped her shoulders and she immediately recognized the touch as Gendry’s. “Sorry,” she added, rubbing her head for good measure. 

“Gods, sorry, are you alright?” He assessed her carefully and Arya reflexively scoffed. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Your chest muscles aren’t _that _solid.” She paused. “Well, actually they are, but I’m fine.” She laughed nervously as Gendry continued to watch her quietly. “I mean, you’re very strong and…oh boy I’m saying a lot of things right now.” She took a breath to gather herself. “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s fine.” He sounded confused. 

“No, I mean,” she cleared her throat. “I mean for bolting just now. I shouldn’t have done that. I was…I was just about to come find you.” 

“Oh,” Gendry slowed. “I came out here to find you.” 

“Well, I’m here.” Arya looked up at him and shrugged, defeated. She didn’t know how to remove her eyes from his face. 

“Yes, you are.” He nodded, sliding his hands gently down the backs of her arms. She shivered. 

“I’m really sorry, Gendry, that was…” she paused as she struggled to form the words. “That was…”

“Arya,” he stopped her. “It’s okay,” he insisted in a tone that suggested he was willing to drop it. The moment slowed and he stooped a little to search her expression, concern brimming his eyes. “Did I do something wrong? Are _you _okay?”

The question knocked the air out of her. “No, I don’t think I am,” she said helplessly. 

“What is it?” He whispered. She couldn’t actually hear him all too well but she could see the question in his face. 

“I think that I…I’m…” But she traded one thought for another, letting out the words only as quickly as she could find them. “It’s just that I just realized…I just want to _be _with you, Gendry. Like, all the time. And I’m currently having a lot of feelings for you that are telling me we should be doing much more of what we just did back in there.” She sighed and looked him over again. “And side note you’re so hot it’s frustrating. I can’t even think,” she admitted with a laugh and Gendry chuckled, his eyes crinkling. He cupped the side of her face with his hand, but was still silent. “Please say something,” she added desperately. 

“Sorry,” he breathed, pulling her closer. “I’m just so relieved. I thought I had fucked all this up in there.” 

“So did I.” She leaned eagerly into the contact. 

He spoke with the alacrity of a man breaking a vow of silence. “I want to be with you, too. I can’t imagine another way of being, honestly. You’re everything, Arya.” His gentle confession convinced her that her legs were actually made of jello, not flesh, but thankfully he was already holding her steady. 

The people around them seem to fade into a blur. Gendry looked like he was about to say something more before he glanced around, as if remembering where they were. He honed in on her expectant eyes, kissed her forehead. “Do you want to go home?” he asked. 

Relief cracked through the intensity of the last few minutes. “Absolutely yes, I’m dying for pizza right now.” Gendry’s face lit up so bright she thought it might pierce right through her. He took her hand and made for the front door. 

When she turned she saw Pod, both elbows propped up on the kitchen counter and his chin resting in his hands, already meeting her eyes with a wicked and knowing smile, not unlike a madman. She rolled her eyes. He blew her several kisses as she followed out Gendry, who didn’t seem to notice the interaction. She made a mental note to dissect it with him later. There was a lot to dissect before that, though, she acknowledged with warmth. 

—

They were halfway to Gendry’s on foot. It was a quiet but happy walk. Peaceful with Gendry’s hand refusing to leave Arya’s. Not that she would want it any other way. 

“So, how much did we drink? How drunk are we?” He asked. 

“I really don’t remember anymore but walking is hard.” 

“Walking is hard,” he agreed. “Want a ride?”

“Yes please,” she cooed, and Gendry bent to allow her to crawl onto his back. Her depth perception was a little off in the dark, though, so she ended up hanging on way too low off him for it to work. They laughed as she tried to adjust herself, attempting to jump up higher onto his long back, but it backfired when the weight threw them both off and they tumbled slowly onto a grassy patch. 

Arya giggled profusely as Gendry rolled over to check on her. “That failed miserably. We’re not very good at this.” 

“I don’t know, I’m kind of happy with our present arrangement,” she gestured to their bodies, half-entangled and horizontal. 

“Oh are you?” He teased and planted a chaste kiss on her collar. “I thought Arya Stark didn’t usually take it laying down.”

She mock-gasped and swatted at him. “I’ll take it from you any way, Gendry.” He coughed, as dazed as he was surprised, and she used him as leverage to swing her leg over his hip, straddling him out in the open. “I’ll be happy to live up to the hype from up here, though.” She smirked down at him. 

Gendry shook his head at her and shifted away, trying to stand. “We cannot stay like this anymore or we _will _get arrested.” He held out his hand to her again. “Also, we are very close to the pizza place.”

Arya groaned. “I’m so hungry that I won’t argue with you.” 

“Usually being hungry means you _do_ argue with me,” he pointed out. 

“Would you prefer to argue right now? Is that what you’re saying? Because despite my current state I could totally take you in a fight, Waters. I just tackled you to the ground only moments ago.” She was all confidence. 

“Would we call that tackling?” He challenged her teasingly as he opened the door to the pizza parlor on the corner of Gendry’s street, and Arya was immediately distracted by the wafting scent of fresh dough. 

—

Some time later a mostly empty pizza box lay over Gendry’s kitchen counter, its contents thoroughly ravaged and responsible for their sobering stomachs. That, and Arya’s insistence they both take a shot of water for each gin shot they suspected they did earlier. “It’s more fun that way. It’s like we’re still partying,” she explained. 

“Only you would want to spice up drinking water,” Gendry mumbled. “I’m glad not to be partying anymore.” 

Arya nodded in agreement. “Me too. I prefer to be just with you right now…” she trailed off harkening back to her earlier declarations. 

“Me too,” he admitted. “Wanna sit?” He gestured toward the sofa and Arya took his hand. 

It was comfortingly easy to tuck into cushions beside him, their hands automatically intertwining. Arya wondered if she should be surprised at how natural it felt to touch him like this but she just couldn’t. 

“So,” she began. “Pod totally tried to set us up.” 

Gendry nodded slowly. “Did it work?” 

“Yes, I hope so,” she squeezed his hands.

“Good.” And he kissed her again, simultaneously all of a sudden and in slow motion, his lips moving deliberately and diligently against her own. She let herself taste him without hesitance, pulling eagerly on his lip, releasing his hands in favor of his chest, his neck, hair. He smiled against her mouth and it was so sweet she halted the kissing for a moment just to look at him. 

“What?” He traced her jawline. 

“Nothing just…happy to be here.” She tugged playfully at the hair on the nape of his neck. 

Gendry peppered her face with gentle pecks. “We probably have to thank Pod, huh?” 

Arya turned over his words for a moment. “Actually, I think that might be what he intended all along…” She raised her eyebrows, silently communicating her train of thought. 

“Oh dear gods.” He had received her psychic message. “Do think it was all just a ruse or did he actually hope to go through with it?” 

“Knowing Pod? Probably both,” she smirked. “Honestly, I’m not opposed. I was willing earlier tonight and I’m still willing now.” She batted her eyes coyly at him. 

“It is an appealing idea.” He wound an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "Is it fair to say that I want you all to myself for a bit first?” 

Arya crawled onto his lap. “Oh, I’d say that’s incredibly fair.” She swiftly found his mouth again, her tongue running over his lower lip as he twisted a hand into her hair. 

“I want you to myself, too, for the record,” she added when she was able to find her breath again. “There’s no one I’d rather have.” 

“You have all of me,” his voice was clear and eager. “You’re already my favorite fucking person in the world. I’m all yours,” he admitted, and a fluttering feeling she could now name flooded her ribcage. 

—

They found rest soon after nestled in Gendry’s bed; there was no way they were parting for the night, or for any foreseeable night. 

She awoke in the small hours of the morning, a bit chilled despite the warmth of Gendry flush around her back. Alcohol made her sleep poorly. She sat up to reach for more blanket and Gendry stirred at her movement. He reached a groggy arm with her to pull the duvet around their shoulders as she resettled into his chest, facing into his shoulder now. 

He wound an arm around her waist once more and tugged her slightly closer as she burrowed into his neck. 

“I love you,” he said simply, his voice slow with sleep. 

“I love you, too,” she whispered back and felt his lips warm on her hair, and then heard the steady rhythm of his breathing again. 

It took her a moment to locate her own breath but upon finding it followed him into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> coming up in the next 2 chapters: lots and lots of smut (don't worry, Pod will be back for the grand finale). 
> 
> thank you for all your lovely comments, I recently went back and read through all of them to give me the strength I needed to finish this chapter. This is basically the first multi-chap I've ever written (like, ever, in my life) and I'm learning a lot!! So thanks for coming along on the ride with me. I mean, heck, this isn't even very long, and also it's incredibly silly, but it still whacks the shit out of me every time I write it, so I'm glad that a number of people seem to be enjoying it.


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